Can Selfies Hurt Your Professional Image?

In today’s world where everyone has an online profile (even my chubby chihuahua has one), selfies seem to be everywhere-Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You will even find me taking them myself when I am out and about with friends, in my garden, working out, or with my voluptuous chihuahua Nini. Selfies are a great way to capture your daily activities and candid snapshots that bring out your personality.

Selfies, however, should not replace professional photos when representing your personal brand. Just as a recent New York Times article discussed, many smart individuals are opting to invest in high-quality glamour photos to replace the standard iphone selfies seen on most social media profiles. If you cannot afford professional photos, just make sure you screen all your photos out before posting them, especially when other people tag you in photos that do not do you justice.

Let me give you an example: when screening out candidates for our company or for our clients, once the person has made the cut with their resume and telephone screening, I go onto their social media pages and check them out. If they make pass that one, they then will get an in-person interview. Believe me, I have seen some very distasteful Facebook and Instagram pages.

The other day, I was on Linkedin working on a project for a client and I was appalled at the amount of poor quality photos many high level executives and professionals currently have on their profile. If you are a president, CEO, or business owner, then look like one! Your online professional image should be sharp, business-like, powerful, yet, approachable. When it comes to your personal online profile, keep it clean, quality, and lighthearted. Don’t post anything you will regret later. It wastes a lot of time having to go back and delete.

When was the last time you had some professional headshots done for your social media or website? Let me polish and upgrade you to have a 5-star image to go with the 5-star quality work that you do.

Below is a collection of selfies with friends and family that I have used on my personal social media pages, but definitely not for work. I also threw in a few professional ones so you can see what I mean.